I'm working my way through the Maine State Parks Passport and this spot was listed in it. After driving by a couple times I realized that - oh! - it was literally just this red house. We came in Spring, so we took the opportunity to walk the trail behind the house to the Kennebec River.
Honestly; this spot is underwhelming, and I'm not sure why you'd come here unless a) you were getting a stamp for your Passport, or b) you were coming here with your elementary school. It's a big rust colored red house that you can look at.
It's got a placard that reads, "No, George Washington never slept here but he knew the owner. Two other people who figured prominently in the American Revolution did sleep in this house - Benedict Arnold and Aaron BUrr. Built in 1765, this colonial Federal-style house was home to several generations of the prominent Colburn family. In September 1775, Colonel Benedict Arnold led an expedition of more than 1,000 colonial soldiers up the Kennebec River to attack the British stronghold of Quebec City. The men came to the Kennebec from Massachusertts on board eleven ships which disembarked here at the home of Reuben Colburn, a member of the Maine Committee of Safety. Colburn helped spawn the idea of attacking British Quebec by way of the Maine wilderness and had supplied critical information to General Washington. On Arnold's arrival, Colburn had 200 freshly-built wooden boats called bateaux ready and the expedition used these to carry its provisions and military stores upstream toward Canada. This house was Arnold's headquarters and the launching point for his famous expectation against Quebec. Colburn had assembled a brew and built the boats within two weeks of General Washington's request to do so, but without enough seasoned lumber for the sizable task, the builders had to use green wood which was more prone to fail in the water. Twenty of these craftsmen, including Colburn himself, then accompanied the expedition to Canada, carrying supplies and repairing the boats as they traveled."
The Colburn House, carriage house, and barn are open by special event only. read more